War on the Media – Here vs There

Note the utter lack of help from their US komeraden? Oh wait, I forgot that they moved mountains here –

His asylum denial has provoked outrage among many U.S. journalists and migrant advocates, who have organized protests outside the detention center where he and his son are being held.

Couldn’t accredit them and have them come in on a work visa at a US bureau, eh? Get Carlos Slim to cough up a few bucks to help? Protest outside Mexican Embassy? Send lawyers, guns and money? What is Europe or Canada or anyone else doing as far as asylum?

There has been a smattering of coverage, mostly last year, when a couple of high profile murders were in the news. But I don’t see much of an effort to do anything other than cluck. I guess it is just too hard to do anything or consistently bring this story to light, when you are too busy covering Cheeto Mussolini’s latest Tweet.

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Currently serving at the pleasure of a Swiss multinational.
Previously a Soldier, rugby player, lawyer, bouncer, bartender, substitute teacher, risk manager, and cubicle mushroom. Will work for raclette.

“Our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace, and do not represent American values or American fairness,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, saying the issue was on his administration’s 2018 agenda. “You can’t say things that are false — knowingly false — and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account. We’re going to take a very, very strong look at that. And I think what the American people want to see is fairness.”

This seems pretty reasonable to me, but I’m a shitlord (and not one of the anointed media-approved shitlords) so I’m obviously some kind of proto-fascist-misogynist-racist-bigot Nazi (or worse, a conservative).

I’m actually ok with the media being a bunch of lying, partisan demagogues. Just be upfront about it. Stop this ridiculous claim to be martyrs to the truth, braving the wrath of authority to speak truth to power or whatever. I would love to be able to rely on professional fact-gatherers to just keep me informed about what’s happening in the world, but that’s not happening. In it’s absence, just be honest about being cheerleaders for your political sponsors.

My rep sucks donkey ballz. But of course being in MD, there’s almost zero chance of that not being true.

kbolino
on February 11, 2018 at 1:07 pm

The decision itself? Yes. The subsequent jurisprudence? Not so much.

The “actual malice” standard has, in practice, set the bar so high that telepathy is practically required to prove it, and the definition of “public official” has been watered down so thoroughly that anyone with some kind of fame can claim it applies to them.

That having been said, given that many courts have decided to completely shed any semblance of impartiality, with little to no consequence, I do not know that anyone has a workable solution to this problem.

It is about depriving Trump of support at all costs, because he is rolling back Obama’s shitty rule by the pen. These cunts are gatekeepers to the Obama legacy. They crowned him. They protected him (even when he fucked them over, over and over). It’s about sending the message that the left will not tolerate anyone in charge but one of their own. This is about people that are on a holy crusade to force their dogma on the masses, and to cleanse those that resist out. These people may pretend to be morally superior, but they harbor some of the most evil beliefs, all justified by their firmly held belief that the ends justify the means. They are the most dangerous kind of fanatics.

^This. I know in some circles it’s very vogue to always follow up criticising the left with equivocations to how equally bad the right is. I don’t deny that the right is fucking awful on war and a host of other domestic issues. They are complete hypocrites as we have just seen on the spending bill. That being said their evil doesn’t hold a candle to the evil that is the left. These people truly will not stop until we have gulags and firing squads. They are void of any principle and their primary motivation and unifying agent is hate. That’s to whoever suggested Eric Hoffer to me, I feel like I truly see the left for what it is.

They don’t believe any of that shit, but the NYT has been very left leaning since at least the 1930s. They’re just so hysterical right now because Trump is pissing all over their progressive parade. Friedman and Bruni should be writing for Salon.

If we’re going to to that, just annex it. Take our southern border from 1500 to 150 miles or whatever they are. Plus cheap beachfront property for me. Would be cheaper to just legalize drugs and put all the bad guys out of business.

I know you’re not supposed to condone prison rape because it’s inhumane or whatever, but if there was ever someone who deserved to get raped to death by a crowd of 300-pound Crips doing life sentences, it’s that guy.

While every president has groused about his coverage, Mr. Trump has proved to be the most vocal and visceral news media critic in the Oval Office in at least a generation.

How many reporters are having their phones tapped at the moment? Obama was smart about not criticizing the media, but he sure as fuck did not look the other way when they criticized him or leaks came out of his blessed realm. Didn’t the Obama DOJ have a journalist jailed?

As to Mexican journalists, that is a huge fuck up on the Trump administrations hands. If they were smart, they would give sanctuary and be very, very, very vocal about it and stuff that right in the face of the NYT, WaPo and others for being such pussies about getting all bent out of shape for “mean” tweets, as well as use it as a hammer on the Mexican Government to clean up all the corruption. Mexico is a goddamned mess thanks in a big part to the WOD and I wish Trump would drop the hammer on that too.

This morning on my drive to the store I heard listener comments to NPR during the fund drive on how they so much appreciate the unbiased coverage NPR delivers and that is why they are donating. People don’t know what unbiased is anymore. Unbiased = confirming my bias.

“Mexico is a goddamned mess thanks in a big part to the WOD and I wish Trump would drop the hammer on that too.”

I made pretty much this exact comment at a dinner party with co-workers once. We were talking about vacationing there and I said I used to go there a lot, but now I won’t because it’s getting too dangerous on account of the USA’s war on drugs creating all the drug cartels. Some people looked at me like I had a 3rd eye in the middle of my forehead. It’s sad just how naive most Americans are when it comes to things like that.

They need a new report in inequality quick. Otherwise i am shocked that workers in big charaties are in it for themselves. Travel the world. Meet interesting people. Help pretty 16 year olds make an honest buck

Much of Oxfam’s sickness comes from its receipt of government money. No longer was it entirely dependent on the goodwill of ordinary people with their naive belief that the money they gave should be spent on medicine or tents or emergency latrines rather than politicking, and their equally tedious preference that their donations not be spent on prostitutes. Freed from all that, Oxfam could branch out into being a political party for people too sensitive to do the hard graft of going door to door and canvassing for votes, and as a bonus it could advocate for the policies that would keep the stream of government money coming

I never give money to any organization which also solicits the government for hand outs. Free market or GTFO

Some years back a friend of mine gave birth to a child that had Job’s Syndrome. She was at a loss as to what to do, had little money and felt it was pretty hopeless. I called both St. Jude’s and Shriners and they took the kid, no charge, no questions asked. I imagine by now that kid has used more than a million dollars worth of health care.

Yeah round these parts there are some decent orthodoz priests wbo actually takes care of orphans, a few charatice providing lomg term care for the ill that do not get it with our fab government healhcare and a few more. There are honest charities that in the end are useless like one who raised money to buy equipment for a government hospital that ended up unuses and storimg dust

Ya maybe. Good point. I would not put it past a journalist from playing both sides of a story/field. I still think it would be huge political capital if Trump was vocal about giving asylum to Mexican journalists given the number of them who find themselves murdered.

I wish, I’d watch if more. There are some pretty anchor ladies, parroting CNN unfortunately. The really hot ones on TV there are on the novelas, holy mother of jeebus.

l0b0t
on February 11, 2018 at 1:58 pm

Is Xuxa still a thing? We watched the Hell out that show when I was in the Army.

Hyperion
on February 11, 2018 at 2:06 pm

Xuxa Meneghel? She’s still a TV personality.

l0b0t
on February 11, 2018 at 2:15 pm

That’s awesome. There was something heartwarming about seeing an orderly room full of soldiers getting all misty-eyed when Xuxa would bring out all the disabled children for the ‘Xuxa Kiss’ at the end of the show.

Recently, Houston said, he was introduced to some Eskimo artists who had been brought to New York for an exhibition. When asked what they thought of civilization, his new friends replied that the only thing that impressed them was an outing to the Bronx Zoo, where they had been wowed by the sight of a giraffe. With that long neck and those wonderful fleshy flanks, the Eskimos said, such an animal could feed their families for many weeks.

What does it taste like, they wanted to know. Houston replied that he had never eaten giraffe.

“They looked at each other, kind of funny, and then back to me,“

Houston said. “Then they said: `We must have been misinformed. We had heard that you were a great hunter.`

I stopped watching Fox News more than 5 years ago and CNN and all the rest even before that. I didn’t get all the benefits that you did, but I manage to keep somewhat calm most of the time, instead of wanting to smash the TV with a brick.

Wifey often puts on the execrable Good Day NY. It gives the agita almost immediately. MeTV is the antidote, a morning spent with The Beverly Hillbillies, My Three Sons, and The Brady Bunch is a far better use of my time.

Analysts said Mr. Trump’s criticisms represented an effort to undermine faith in journalism. “It is a common thing in the authoritarian playbook to discredit the (CRITICS OF THE) media (/PROGRESSIVES) so that they (,THE MEDIA) are the only source that can be trusted,” (SHOULD HAVE) said Indira Lakshmanan, who holds the Newmark chair in journalism ethics at the Poynter Institute.

FTFY corrections in parenthesis and spoken in a STEVE SMITH/ZARDOZ voice.

Faith that was previously in such abundance due to their hard-hitting stories on how much ice cream he eats, and their forthright willingness to criticize officials, like Lerner, Clapper, Comey, et al., and examine stories about abuses and corruption without bias or dependence upon biased sources.

The link to that takedown of Oxfam Ted S posted upthread reminds me, a buddy sent me this neat article from, of all places, NPR, and it’s actually a pretty good analysis of altruism vis a vis individualistic societies or collective societies.

Individualism is that rugged frontier quality that reflects a mix of independence, valuing free expression, and eschewing close family ties relative to more distant relationships.

And it is on the rise. Not just in the United States — which has long been ranked as one of the world’s most individualist countries — but nearly everywhere.

In a 2017 study examining five decades worth of data across 78 countries — from Norway to Nigeria, and Canada to Colombia — psychologists Henri Santos, Michael Varnum, and Igor Grossmann found that people increasingly report that they value friends more relative to family, want their children to be independent, and value free expression. All of these values are closely associated with individualism.

…. Those few countries that bucked the global trend toward individualism included some with the lowest socio-economic development, including Armenia, Malaysia, Mali, and Uruguay.

But equating individualism, and the wealth that promotes it, with selfishness may be a mistake. As evidenced, the world’s wealthiest and most individualistic countries also happen to be some of the most altruistic.

Every year, the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) publishes an index of global altruism, which reflects reports from survey respondents all over the world regarding their volunteering, charitable giving, and providing everyday help to strangers. (Everyday help includes behaviors like giving directions or picking up something a stranger dropped.) CAF’s recent publications yield patterns that may seem surprising. First, they find that, altruism is, like individualism, on the rise everywhere. The world is becoming more generous over time, not less. The 2016 World Giving Report found steady upticks in all three forms of giving across the world over the previous five years. Providing everyday help to a stranger is the most common form of giving, and over half of all respondents (an estimated 2.4 billion people) reported having provided such help in the previous month, a 12 percent increase over five years prior.

Second, the nations that provide the most help to strangers, according to the CAF survey, include the world’s five most individualistic countries (based on Hofstede Center data) — the United States (2nd most generous), Australia (3rd), New Zealand (4th), Canada (6th), and the United Kingdom (8th).

The key to understanding the link between individualism and generosity may be that the World Giving Index measures generosity for strangers. Members of collectivist cultures do very much value generosity and giving — but primarily toward family and members of other close-knit groups. In China, for example (140th on the World Giving Index — last place), traditional Confucian teachings emphasize the value of generosity, but with a focus on benefiting close family members and friends. A focus on group bonds requires that members of collectivist cultures draw distinctions between group members whose welfare, goals, and identities are deeply interdependent — and everyone else. And less value is placed on the welfare of everyone else.

I’ve said before that the term “socialism” is a misnomer. Forcibly taking from others is profoundly antisocial, and leads to all other manner of antisocial behaviours. Individualism, on the other hand, is more sociable (i.e., leaving other people alone) and can lead people to be more kind and generous (sociable), because they’re doing so voluntarily.

Sunday afternoon seems like the right time for an OT ramble. I was on my porch trying to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather and a cold Sierra Nevada Otra Vez (too much of a summer beer for Feb but I’m thinking Spring) and was driven inside by my white trash neighbor who decided to spend his Sunday afternoon reving the engine on his 4 wheeler and doing 1/4 mile laps on a road where he could easily go 6 before needing to turn around. Anyway, I followed a link on the last article over to some blather on TOS and spent a few minutes perusing the cesspool that is the comments section now. Tony, Hihn, Dajal, Robert, Domestic Dissent and a whole bunch of other shitstains yelling and talking past each other. I just wanted to say I am very grateful to the founders of this site who have expended so much time and energy to make this happen and all the commenters and contributors whom entertain me daily with you wit, insight and civility (for the internet anyways).

I will second what Tulpa said. I only get to read this site early mornings, late and on weekends when I am wasting my life away recovering from wasting my life away doing others bidding for some coin. The topic of this post is something I have been stewing on for awhile and it is brought up here in the dregs of family friendly web content.

And on another OT note. I am in the market for a more fuel efficient mode of transport. This morning I saw at a wreck yard/used car dealership a Mini Cooper with the sticker price $2800. Is that even possible? It was not bent in half or anything.

Sounds like my annoying neighbour. The second I decide to enjoy the peace he always finds something to fricken start and rev up. He mows the lawn every four days, he starts up the snow blower every chance he gets even if a simple bloody shovel can get the job done, tinkers off and on with his ski-doos, and his boat. The only thing he’s missing is a Harley and its fart sounds.

I full support my neighbors right to use his property however he sees fit. I just don’t understand why, on a rural road with miles of trails intersecting it, you have to essentially just do laps past our two houses. He quit a few minutes ago so I’m much happier.

I have the same problem. My neighbor likes to ride behind our houses when he could load his four wheeler on his trailer and drive for five minutes to BLM land and annoy nobody. What do you do? I am not one to be a dick about it which I am sure you aren’t either. I have thought about working on my chainsaw at 5 am over the weekend a few times though.

Yeah it’s one of those things I’m not going to get worked up over. It’s just an occasional nuessence. I’ve only interacted with him a couple times but it’s always pleasant. I’m a hermit so I’m sure it’s rare that he even remembers I’m here.

I am the same way. Us hermits get no respect. We should form a movement and have a march. The million hermit march nobody showed up to could have the biggest social justice impact of the 21st century. Headline: “Nobody Speaks for Them Not Even Themselves.” We could become a protected class and claim disability.

I swear my neighbors are outside 24 hours a day. And not just one of them, always several of them together just standing around talking or walking their ankle biters. There’s no way they ever sleep or go inside. And they always want to draw me into their Stepford like cult. I’m typically just ‘hi’ and keep on walking. My wife talks to them, there’s only one of them she tries to avoid also.

Last place I lived I had a disabled vet neighbor who lived on his front porch. Nice guy, we still talk occasionally, but it drove me nuts that I couldn’t drink a damn beer outside without having to interact with him…..sometimes you just want to sit outside and just enjoy yourself without having talk to anyone. That’s one of the reasons I moved out to the middle of damned nowhere, other than someone 4wheeling or shooting I never get interrupted.

I typically stay inside or go out on the deck, which is in the back where there’s a step hill and it’s heavily wooded. I hardly ever see anyone out there. Unfortunately, I have go out front to leave and they are always fucking out there. I’m sure they think I’m unsociable. I’m also sure I don’t give a fuck. We do have one neighbor who I believe is a truly nice person and I do talk to her and my wife likes her. There’s also a younger Asian couple in the hood who seem genuinely nice. But the ones who are always standing around outside gossiping, I don’t trust them and don’t want to talk to them. I found that out the first time I actually talked to them. My ‘avoid asshole people’ alarm went off on high very quickly.

The science fair project stirred outrage when The Sacramento Bee published an article about it Saturday morning. Aguilar released a video statement Saturday night addressing the issue.

Titled “Race and IQ,” the science project raised the hypothesis: “If the average IQs of blacks, Southeast Asians, and Hispanics are lower than the average IQs of non-Hispanic whites and Northeast Asians, then the racial disproportionality in (the school’s elite HISP program) is justified.”

———–

Despite its content, the project was allowed to go on display at a science fair at the Land Park high school last week.

Aguilar said the district is investigating the details around the science project, specifically whether proper instructional protocols were followed. The poster detailing the project was put up Monday evening and removed Wednesday, after students complained.

It’s not clear whether the teacher reviewed the project before it was displayed.

“The use of racially offensive language in our schools by anyone does not reflect our values as a school district and will not be tolerated,” Aguilar said. “Many students, family members and community members have expressed how upset they are about this issue.”

Maybe they should randomly select students for this “advanced academic program” and then give everybody an A++ grade average. That would disprove variation in intelligence, by race or any other criteria.

*I suspect the kid’s science fair project was not rigorous enough to withstand a lot of scrutiny, but- so fucking what? There’s your “learning experience” right there. Make him defend his methodology and conclusions against reasoned, rational objections. Make him defend his definition of “intelligence”. But that would never be permissible. Because badthink.

It wasn’t in public and he asked for consent which was given. In the past I often asked young ladies if they minded if I rubbed one out over drinks. Granted, I now drink alone but I don’t think the two things are related.